![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/cattt.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
When the Dowbrigade was a kid, one of his fascinations was for medieval
\n warfare; suits of armor, the evolution of broadswords,halberds and crossbows,
\n and of course, the WMD’s of the age, the catapult. Awesome weapons. In
\n an era when the dominant technology for thousands of years had favored
\n the evolution of ever more massive fortresses, defenses based on unscalable
\n walls and uncrossable moats, catapults offered a way to attack from
\n the air, terrible pestilent rain that presaged all of terrible tools
\n of modern warfare.<\/p>\n
The New York Times has a pretty cool article concerning an aspect of
\n the catapult phenomena we had never really considered; as a manifestation
\n of the intersection between science and politics….<\/p>\n
\n
In
\n wars of antiquity, no weapon struck greater terror than the catapult.
\n It was the heavy artillery of that day, the sturdy springboard that shot
\n menacing payloads over fortress walls and into enemy camps – flaming
\n missiles, diseased corpses, lethal arrows and stony projectiles.<\/p>\nFor centuries on end, at least until the proliferation of gunpowder in the 15th-century
\n West, catapults saw action as the early weapons of mass destruction. They were
\n prized assets in an arms race and had profound effects on affairs of state. Sound
\n familiar?<\/p>\nPerhaps that is why a small but growing number of historians and classics scholars
\n are taking a closer look at the role of catapults not only in warfare, but also
\n the politics of antiquity. Out of their careful re-reading of old texts, combined
\n with archaeological finds, has emerged a revised view of the convergence of science
\n and political power in earlier times.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nfrom the New
\n York Times<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Dowbrigade was a kid, one of his fascinations was for medieval warfare; suits of armor, the evolution of broadswords,halberds and crossbows, and of course, the WMD’s of the age, the catapult. Awesome weapons. In an era when the … Continue reading